What is the BEST book ever?

The Giver and Anthem... dont remember the authors right off hand... but they are truely great books

The Golden Key, by Melanie Rawn and some other people. Best anti-hero ever.

Come on, people! It's "A Separate Peace", by John Knowles! Number one, all time, ever, no questions, no takebacks, period!

Wow, 3 out of 4 of Ayn Rand's "novels" were named (including Anthem, Seed). I go with Atlas Shrugged myself for the same reason as Auricomous (welcome to A2k, btw) and Shogun for entertainment (couldn't put it down until it was done... and then was sorry it was over).

Well the title of the thread is "best books ever". So far all the choices have been from the 20th cdentury, including some I believe will not make the cut in the annals of history.

How about "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoievsky? Tolstoy's "War and Peace", or Balzac's "Pere Goriot", Stendhal's "The Red and the Black"? All are masterpieces, well worth reading.

Gotta throw Catch-22 by Joseph Heller out there. Aztec, by Gary Jennings is also a good one. Don Quixote maybe?

Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck, absolutely brilliant, and In Cold Blood-Truman Capote, who we kidding there are too many to count.

A Hero of Our Time - Mikhail Lermontov

or

The Royal Family - William T. Vollmann

or

The Public Burning - Robert Coover

or

Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol

or (Though it is an essay)

The Rebel - Albert Camus

That's about as far as I can narrow it down.

I friggin' love Dead Souls; well, part one.

My favorite books off the top of my head, in no particuliar order are:

Pet Cemetery
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Charlottes Web
The Shining
Red Badge of Courage

!

You know, kicky, I would have at one time agreed with you on that. I loved that book and considered it vastly superior to another more famous coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye. But recently I tried to reread it and for some reason it's lost its lustre. I'll try it again.

Another book that I consider vastly underrated and one that receives very little press is Steinbeck's The Wayward Bus. Great book.

And, I'll agree with doglover on The Red Badge of Courage being a great book, but Pet Cemetery? What the f--?

Some can be specific, some are author determined -

sci - fi - Time enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
humour - anything by Terry Pratchett
Romance - These old shades by Georgette Heyer
Children - Harry Potter - all of them
sex - Anais Nin
travel - Around the World in 80 days - Michael Palin
Natural History - the living planet - David Attenborough

you can't really say what is the best book ever.
However, in Europe there was huge survey at the end of 20th century and as a best book was voted "Ulysses" by James Joyce.

I have two favourites. First is "Hundred years of solitude" by G.G. Marquez, and second one is all-time-favourite for some reason - Catcher in the rye.

just a comment- all these seem to be personal preferences and if this the case there will be no answer, if you are truly looking for the best book ever, shouldn't we be taking into consideration best seller lists, amount of copies published and the longitivity of book etc? I don't know but its just a thought

Then Bible is the best book ever

I would have to agree with that

its amazing how many people say Ulysses is the best book ever - and then have never read it, or never managed to complete it. It took me 6 months to read it, a few pages each and every day. There are some stunning bits and some execrable bits but it is really Joyces little ego trip and I challenge you to find more than 1 person in your acquaintances who has actually read it - and in its original form and not the cheating punctuated version.

As for the bible, sorry folks, can't agree there, it is like any other religous tome, heavy on the morals and short on the gripping story line. In fact I don't think it should even be considered in such a list, there are too many other factors attached to it.

Lord of the Flies

"To Kill a Mockingbird"



and my fav author is Sharon Chreech

A Clockwork Orange